Who is Eligible for this Program?The Critical Incident Stress Management
program is applicable to the following members of Team Coast Guard:

Active Duty, Reservists and their dependents

Civil Service employees

Exchange
System and MWR employees

Purpose of ProgramThe Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) program is
intended to help individuals exposed to critical incidents to identify and
cope with their responses to these events. The focus of CISM is to provide
“psychological first aid” and to minimize the harmful affects of job stress,
particularly in crisis or emergency situations. Critical Incident Stress
Management includes pre-incident training and post-incident services.

Program Confidentiality The Employee Assistance Program Coordinator will ensure
CISM confidentiality and effectiveness. No team member shall make any
written notes during or about a CISM intervention. An after action report
may be used by team members only to discuss at team meetings as to lessons
learned about the intervention process. The after action report shall be
very generic and shall not include names or any specifics about the
intervention.

Critical Incident - Any event with sufficient impact to produce significant
emotional reactions now or later. It is generally considered extremely
unusual in the range of ordinary human experiences. Examples of critical
incidents include the following:

Crew members death in line of duty

Children’s
death or serious injury

Multiple fatalities or seriously injured
survivors

Suicide, successful or attempted

Natural disasters

Class A or B
mishaps involving death or permanent injury and otherwise high emotional
impact

Acknowledge both
potential and realized traumatic reactions to the event or incident

Stabilize
and mitigate the impact of acute symptoms/signs of distress following the
exposure

Assist individuals to evaluate their own responses in terms of the
impact on their current occupational functioning and the possible need for
ongoing referral/treatment

Encourage the mitigating effects of peer group
support and interaction in the workplace

Facilitate participants’ use of
social, emotional, and psychological resources available to them

To maximize
effectiveness, a debriefing should normally occur 24-72 hours after an
event. CISD usually uses all team members. It is not therapy even though a
mental health professional is part of the team.

Critical Incident Stress Defusing - Small group process, usually no more
than 30 minutes, ideally done within 8 hours after a critical incident.
Purpose is:

Rapid reduction in the intense reactions to a
traumatic event

“Normalize” the experience so people can return to their routine duties
as quickly as possible

Re-establish the group’s social network so people do
not isolate themselves from each other. In recognizing similarities to
others, people often are more willing to help each other in troubled
times

Provide information on acute stress and a few reminders about how to
reduce it

Assess group’s response to determine if a full debriefing should be
scheduled

Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) - A
system of interventions designed to mitigate the adverse psychological
reactions that may accompany critical incidents. The CISM process is not
therapy; its focus to minimize the harmful affects through psychological
first aid, education and follow-up. The CISM process uses trained peers,
chaplains, and mental health professionals, and is managed by CISM Team
Coordinators who are usually the Employee Assistance Program
Coordinators (EAPC) located at Work-Life Centers.

Comprehensive Soldier Fitness - A structured, long term assessment and
development program to build the resilience and enhance the performance of
every Soldier, Family member and DA civilian. This website is still under
construction but looks very promising and worthy of a bookmark. The program
is described in the April 2011 edition of the
Harvard Business
Review.

Demobilization - Demobilization’s are generally used during a
disaster or in a large-scale catastrophic critical incident. A primary
stress prevention and intervention technique, it is applied immediately
after personnel are released from the scene and before they return to normal
duties. Its two segments are, first, a 10- to 15- minute talk and, second, a
20 - minute rest and eating session. The purpose is to provide an
opportunity to 'decompress' before moving to the next assignment, provide
practical suggestions for stress management and offer an avenue to those
experiencing critical incident stress effects to receive further
assistance.

Follow-up Services - If CISM provides initial services
post-incident follow-up is considered to be essential. The Employee
Assistance Program Coordinator is responsible for ensuring follow-up
services are provided or accessible.

On–Scene Support Services - Services
provided under “on-scene” conditions are brief, practical crisis
intervention functions designed to limit the level of distress members
encounter. On-scene support does not interfere with operations. These
service providers usually are peers, with chaplains or mental health
professionals called only as needed.

Psychological First Aid - The basic
human responses of comfort and consoling a distressed person; protecting a
person from further threat or distress, as far as is possible; furnishing
immediate care for physical necessities, including shelter; providing goal
orientation and support for specific reality based tasks (“reinforcing the
concrete world”); facilitating reunion with loved ones from whom the
individual has been separated; facilitating some telling of the “trauma
story” and ventilation of feelings as appropriate for the particular
individual; linking the person to systems of support and sources of help
that will be ongoing; facilitating the beginning of some sense of mastery;
and identifying the need for further counseling or intervention. (Raphael et
al., 1996, pp. 466–467)

Services and Resources Available
The following services and resources are available within the
Critical Incident Stress Management program:

Requesting Services or ResourcesCRITICAL INCIDENT REPORTING
To request CISM services, commanding officers and officers in charge can
notify either the area or district command center, which will in turn notify
the Health, Safety, and Work-Life Office in your region. In general, CISM services or resources can be obtained
by contacting the Employee Assistance Program Coordinator (EAPC) on your
Regional Work-Life Office. Work-Life Staffs are located at Integrated Support
Commands CG-wide and at the Headquarters Support Command.

Program ReferencesThe following reference provides details of the Critical
Incident Stress Management Program:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) -
Emergency
Preparedness and Response. This site includes links on each type
of natural disaster: earthquakes, extreme heat, floods,
hurricanes, landslides and mudslides, tornadoes, tsunamis,
volcanoes, wildfires, and winter weather. Very comprehensive
with lots of useful just-in-time information.

Comprehensive Soldier Fitness - The mission of this
Army site is to "develop and institute a holistic fitness
program for Soldiers, families, and Army civilians in order to
enhance performance and build resilience." Includes a ton of
great resources for commands, trainers, military members, and
families.

Defense Centers of Excellence (DCoE) for Psychological
Health and Brain Injury - DCoE’s mission: assesses, validates,
oversees and facilitates prevention, resilience, identification,
treatment, outreach, rehabilitation, and reintegration programs
for psychological health and traumatic brain injury to ensure
the Department of Defense meets the needs of the nation's
military communities, warriors and families. This site has many
helpful links related to assisting persons impacted by critical
incidents.

Insure You Can Save a Life! - A commercial insurance locator
service’s great collection of links. It provides excellent
information regarding a number of health and safety issues such
as CPR, extreme weather, swimming safety and first aid.

Navy and Marine Corps Public
Health Center Portal - a great resource for all things related
to promoting healthy living and resilience. One of the best
sites available for those looking to make changes for themselves
as well as for those who are in the business of
advising/training others. Literally covers related subjects from
A to Y. A very well organized site.

U.S. National Response Team (NRT) - The National Response
System is the government's mechanism for emergency response to
discharges of oil and the release of chemicals into the
navigable waters or environment of the United States and its
territories. The CG’s National Strike Force is a key part of the
NRT.

Point of Contact
The Employee Assistance Program Coordinator within HSWL is responsible for
coordinating responses, in collaboration with appropriate commands. Click
here to find the number to your EAPC. If you
need additional assistance, contact
the Headquarters Employee Assistance Program Manager, Ms. Lisa Teems,
CG-1112, at (202) 475-5157, Fax: (202) 475-5907 or email at
Lisa.A.Teems@uscg.mil.